..Conservatives

Rt. Hon. Maria Miller MP House of Commons London SWlAOAA

Wednesday, 11th January 2017

I am writing to thank you for your letter of 9th January and to the Committee for preparing the report. The Party will be carefully considering the issues as it prepares for the next General Election.

With best wishes,

THE RT. HON. SIR PATRICK MCLOUGHLIN MP Chairman of the Conservative Party

Conservative Campaign Headquarters, 4 Matthew Parker Street, London SW1H 9HQ I Switchboard 020 7222 9000 I conservatives.com

Promoted by Atan Mabbutt on behalf of the Conservative Party, both at 4 Matthew Parke1 Slreet. London SW1H 9HQ. Printed by St Ives pie, One TL1dor Street, Lone.JonEC4Y OAH. RT Hon Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of the Labour Party response to the Women in the House of Commons report.

The Women in the House of Commons report is another step closer to advancing women’s representation in public life. I welcome the considerable work the committee has devoted to putting together this progressive report.

Many of the proposed recommendations in the report are topics that the Labour party has campaigned passionately on for many years, including setting a target on women representation in parliament. Labour has long supported All Women Shortlists to achieve 50:50 representation in parliament and across public offices with gender balanced shortlists.

One of the things I thought most important and well reflected in the report was the recommendation that the Government bring into force the statutory requirement for political parties to publish their parliamentary candidate data for general elections, as set out in section 106 of the Equality Act 2010.

I welcome the report’s comments about Labour Party’s record on Women MPs in parliament. I am proud of this record. We must not be complacent however, as much work remains. As Leader of the Labour Party, I agree that much of the work starts within political parties as the report pointed out.

Westminster Group Leader, Scottish National Party

HOUSE OF COMMONS LONDON SWlA OAA

Rt Hon Maria Miller MP Women and Equalities Committee Chair

Friday 10th March 2017

Women in the House of Commons after the 2020 election

The SNP welcomes the publication of the Women and Equalities Committee Report: Wom1n in the House of Commons after the 2020 election. ,

We note that the Women and Equalities Committee report concludes that political parties which fail to take steps to ensure at least 45 per cent of all their representatives in Parliament are women should be forced to do so by new legislation. We are clear that all political parties should take responsibility for increasing the number of women elected to Parliament and we urge all political parties to be held to account for the action they are taking to improve this democratic deficit.

The SNP is committed to continuing to increase the representation of its female elected representatives. We have seen an increase in women MPs and MSPs elected to the UK and Scottish Parliaments and Nicola Sturgeon's cabinet is one of only a handful in the world that is gender balanced. We are committed to advancing the role of women in public life and continue to work as a party to encourage talented women into political representation. We recognise that as a party we have a responsibility to attract and support females into politics. •

Equality for women is at the heart of the Scottish Government's vision for an equal Scotland. We believe that it is not acceptable in 2017 for women to be discriminated against or under­ represented in senior positions, including in the boardroom and in politics. While we do not have official shortlists, we have taken, and remain committed to taking, more significant steps to increase the role of women in public life.

The SNP Scottish Government's Programme for Government contains ambitious commitments in support of women's equality, including legislating for gender balance on public sector boards, creating a new Advisory Council on Women and Girls and piloting a Returners Project.

We are also clear that diversity in politics is the responsibility of political parties and that extends beyond gender. The SNP is committed to enhancing equality for all, delivering a fairer Scotland and an inclusive Scotland. To do that, everyone must have adequate representation.

We are concerned that leaving the EU would be a significant setback for equality, as EU law currently provides a robust framework of guarantees, through the prohibition of discrimination in a range of areas. We will do all that we can with the powers that we have to maintain these protections and continue to advance equality, and equality of opportunity, in Scotland.

We thank the committee for engaging with us and we look forward to working with all necessary stakeholders to help advance the role of women in politics.

Yours sincerely, Tim Farron MP Leader ofthe Liberal Democrats

HOUSE •OF COMMONS LONDON SW IA OAA

Maria Miller MP Women & Equalities Select Committee House of Commons London SW1AOAA

Wednesday 15 March 2017

Dear Maria,

I would like to reiterate how grateful my party and I are for the decision of your Select Committee to examine the issue of female representation in Parliament and we thank you for the excellent report you produced, which I hope all parties and the institutions involved will take heed of.

I fully recognise the challenge that we face in making sure that Parliament is reflective of the diversity in our society and the Liberal Democrats have made bold changes to ensure that for our part we are more diverse and get more women selected, and elected, at all levels. As you rightly point out in your report that is only half the challenge - Parliament itself must become more inclusive and I personally am fully committed to working with the Commons Reference Group on Parliamentary Representation and Inclusion to ensure the culture of the House of Commons support female MPs and encourage more females to stand for elected office.

It is appalling that there have only ever been as many women MPs elected as there were men elected in May 2015 and in my evidence to your Committee I acknowledged that "to be left with eight white blokes is hardly a great result for diversity", although I'm very happy that we have started that rebalancing with the election of at the end of last year.

In your report you state that "there is a lack of clear strategies for gender equality and concrete action plans to achieve it". I must take this opportunity to disagree with that conclusion with regards to the Liberal Democrats. Almost a year ago now party conference, i.e with the support and endorsement of our membership, passed the Electing Diverse MPs motion. This introduced All Women Shortlists for the first time, and means that the Liberal Democrats are the first political party in Britain to introduce all-disabled shortlisting and specifically set aside target seat selections for people from other underrepresented groups as defined in the Equality Act 2010 Guidance to Political Parties, including black, Asian and ethnic minorities, disabled and LGBT+.

This ensures that any local party will be able to vote for an all-women shortlist or an all-disabled shortlist, or reserve some spaces for candidates from other under-represented group and will require all seats where the Liberal Democrats polled 15% or more in the 2015 General Election, to prove that they have taken serious steps to attract and search for potential candidates from underrepresented groups. I believe the latter point is very important. This has 0207 219 8498 [email protected] www.libdems.org.uk provided local parties with the clear, unambiguous and strong direction they need to ensure that women are adopted into the party, nurtured and encouraged and supported in standing for election.

Baroness Brinton and I have championed gender equality in the party for many years and programmes such as the Leadership scheme and the Campaign for Gender Balance certainly helped to improve numbers of candidates selected in our top seats (66% of the leadership programme was selected, of which 43% women and 23% men); however, as your report states progress has been too slow and I hope the steps we have now taken will ensure that the candidates at the next General Election will be more diverse than ever and that we will play a significant party in rebalancing the gender equality in the next Parliament.

I look forward to continued engagement with the work of your Committee on this and other important issues.

Yours,

~ '

Tim Farron MP Leader of the Liberal Democrats Commons Reference Group on Representation and Inclusion House of Commons London SW1A OAA Tel 020 7219 7459 Email [email protected]

From the Chair J 4- March 2017 Mrs Maria Miller MP Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee House of Commons London SW1A OAA

The Good Parliament

As you know, I have recently convened a cross-party Commons Reference Group on Representation and Inclusion to consider The Good Parliament, an independent report produced by Professor Sarah Childs in 2016, and to investigate ways that the Commons could become more representative, particularly of women, but also other diverse groups. I am grateful for your active participation as a Member of this Group.

I am writing on behalf of the Group to express our support for your Committee's recent report on Women in the House Afterthe 2020 Election the recommendations contained therein.

We look forward to continuing engagement with the Women and Equalities Committee on these and related matters over the coming months.

, ---t't"11r Speaker - . Chair of the Commons Reference Group on Representation and Inclusion